Improvement in the construction of ordnance



N. WIARD,

muzzle-Loading Ordnance.

No. 38,1709v Patented May 26, 1863-.

l2; e IRQ/enfer..

N. PETERS. PHOTQLITHOQRAPHER. WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NORMAN XYIARD, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENTv IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORDINANCE.

'Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,709, dated May 2G, 1863.-

To all whom it may concern.-

Bc-it known that I, NORMAN WIr-inn, of th city, county, and State of New York, have invented 'a 'certain new and. useful Improvement in Ordnance; and I do hereby declare that the following is a. full and exact description thereof, reference being had-to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters denoted thereon. Figure lis a longitudinal-section. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line s s in Fig'. 1. Fig. 3 is an end elevation. The right-hand side is part of a reareie'vation, with ajp ortion broken away to exhibit its interior, and the left-hand side is part of al front elevation. Fig. -l is a longitudinal section` of Aan implement I have devised to facilitate the loading of this gun.

Similar .letters of reference indicate like parts ,in all the iigures.-

The attainment of the greatest effect with projectiles, whether fora long range or for the penetration of iron armor, requires the highest velocity possible to be attained. To generate a very high velo'city, the projectile must be acted on with great force, and this force must be maintained or continued through a great distance. In guns, as ordinarily constructed, the powder acts with great-force at or near the early portion of the movement of the projectilealong the bore, and then commences to act with diminished force during the -latter part of such movement. The effect of such action is to generate a less velocity than if the powder, or rather the gases evolved 'therev from, continued to act at its maximum force,

or nearly so, duri-ng the .entire movement of the projectile. Mygun "is provided with an enlarged chamber, that contains the powder, and from this powder is evolved a' sufficient amount of gas to keep up a higher expansive force againstl the shot during the middle and latter portions of its 'movement in the bore than is attainable in guns as ordinarily constructed, and the use of this device is made practicable in large guns by devices for compensation for unequalexpansion by heat, and

by modes of attaining great strength.

To enable others skilledin the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to, describe its construction and operation-by the aid of the drawings and of the lette-rs thereon.

A is a lining of steel, constructed in the form represented, so that there is at the rear of the barrel a swell, A', inclosing a chamber, M,

larger than 4the main bore of the gun. This chamber i M is bored without difficulty by means known to workers in metal, and contains, in a form adapted to facilitate its rapid ignition, a much larger quantity of powder than can .be burned with advantage behind a projectile in guns of the ordinary construction.

B is a covering of bronze, forced tightly upon the lining A. The inner surface of B and the outer surface of A are tapered slightly, the rear end of A being largest. This facilitates the production of a very-tight fit of these parts; but care must be taken thatthe thickest part of the steel lining A be not too great. I prefer to make this thickness, if 'the gunbe large, about three and a half inches, as otherwise the difference in the temperature between the inner and outer particles induces a serious strain.

O D EF are heavy washers of steel, prepared with a spring-temper and touching each other only at a few pointsbythe aid of theprojee-l tions (l, e, and f, arranged each in a different part of the circle from the next, so as not to coincide in position, but to differ ,as widely each from the other as possible. This will be readily understood by amechanic, and allows the elasticity of the washers to be brought into play.

G is a nut fitted upon the steel A by a screwthread, as rep resented. This is applied against a washer, F, with considerable force, soas to compress onbend slightly-that is, to produce an elastic yielding or deiection-all the washers between itself and the washer C resting against the bronze B.

H is the partial inner shell, and Hg'the outer shell, of-a bronze east-ing, which is forced or shrunk on over the parts before described. ThisA casting is filledwith lead, J', and compressed, and is provided with braces H, which connect 'the inner metal. H, with the outer shell, H2. Aquantityof lead, K, is also introduced between this casting and theswell A,

-whi'ch contains the spherical chamber, and is held by a screw, L.

My arrangement of the steel lining A, which is hard and. but slightly expansible by heat, within the shell H II' H2, which is more eX pansible by an equal degree of heat, and'is consequently equally expanded with a less degree of heat, allows the exterior metal to aid in resist-ing the mechanical force of the gases, and yet allows the several metals to expand naturally with heat as the heat is generated in the interior and diffused through the mass y without very considerablyincrcasi ng the strain on any portion. This is a vitally-importantelementin my invention. -In addition tothe above, my gun stores in its capacious chamber M so large a quantity of p owder, and allows it to burn eter, due to the expansion of the largequan-l tity of mercury contained in the bulb. If a thermometer were constructed without the bulb, the expansion of the mercury in thetnbe only would not be sufficiently 'apparent to give room for graduations; but bythe addition of the quantity in the bulb, affected by the change of temperature, the motion along the tube is very great, and can be proportioned to give any required amount of kmotion in' the tube if the bulb couldbe made to resist the forces acting upon it. An equally-large quantity of powder may be placed behind a projectile in a gun of ordinary construction as in mine,`

provided the bore of sucli ordinary st-yle of gun be made of very great length, and a large proportion of its length be filled with powder;

but in such case the powder is not entirely burned before the proj ectile escapes from the muzzle, because the powder is in along and comparatively slender column, and time is required for iire to communicate through p0w.

der. In my chamber M thcsame quantity of powder which would in auniform bore consume too much .time in igniting to be fully effective is all ignited in time to be of service.

The vent of my gun passes through the material and communicates with the interior of the chamber M. on its front side, very near the junction between the chamber M and the ordinary cylindrical portion of the bore of gun. By reason of this position of vent, (not representeth) the fire is communicated to the cartridge on its front side, and by the ignition of the powder at that point the remainder of the powder is held back in its place, and the flame alone is projected forward. This allows a larger surface for the ignition of the cartridge as theproccss of ignition proceeds, and is, for many reasons, preferable to the ordi nary mode of driving forward the whole or a portion of the powder with the ball. These are exactly the conditions required ina gun t0 attain the f highest velocity. I believe my mode of constructing this gun will allow the successful use of this idea; but with an enlarged chamber, M, without my plan of .compensation, the structure' would be destroyed by the joint effects of the high mechanical pressure and the heat to which it would be subjected. To retard the communication of heat from the' powder with-in M to the walls of the chamber, I propose to line the chamber with properly-prepared clay or other suitable non-conducting substance, in the mannerrep resented by m in Fig. 1. This is allowable, in this portion of my gun more than` in the bore of ordinary guns, for reasons which will be obvious; but Ido not consider such anonconducting lining necessary in `most cases, if the compensating devices described are properly constructed and proportioned.

The instrument represented in Fig. 4 and the modifications ofthe wad, Sie., which I es'- teem important in loadin'gmy gun may be very readily understood.

N is a cylinder of copper, and n is ahollow wooden stock by which it may be` reached into the gun. n* is a stop which rests in and against the muzzle whenthe loader is fully in place. The cubical contents of N are equal'toV those of the chamber M of the gun.

` An elastic disk or wad, O, is placed lupon the convex face of the plunger I). Then the powder for a charge is next introduced into N; next, a sheet of paper, R, is placed over the end of N, and, lastly, a ring, S, is slipped over the edges of the paper, holding it st'ronglyto N. The loader and its contents are next in.- troduced'into the gun, luntil the stop n rests on the muzzle. The plunger Pis then forced inward by the rod p, passing throughlthe stock n, bursting the paper R, and shoving the powder Q into the large chamber 'M of the. gun, and also .forcing the wad Oin and allowing it to expand therein, 'so that it will retain the powder. The loader is now withdrawn, and the ball introduced in the ordinary manner. These devices avoid the trouble which might be met with in attempting to fill my chamber M with powder by any of the 'ordinary means, as it would evidently involve much labor to elevate the piece into a perpenl ld'icular position in order to fill such chamber by gravity.

My gun may be mounted on trunnions and operated in any approved manner; but I prefer'to locate the trunnions nearer the rear 'end or breech than the center of gravity, as is' indicated in Fig. 1', and to operate an elevatingscrew at some convenient point vnear the muz` zle. The preponderance will in such case be made very great, and in thel front, instead of the rear, of the trunnions; l

Some of the advantages due to separate features of my invention may be separately enumerated, as follows:

' First. By my chamber M, llarger than the bore, in combination with my inner shell, II, outer shell, H2, and 'braces I-I, I am able to burn a greater quantity of powder behind a given projectile with good effect than by any means .before practicable, and to thus generate and continue upon the projectile a very great propelling force without too seriously straining the metal of the gun.

Second. By my bronze piece B, intermediate between the lining A and the exterior bronze, H H H2, orl its equivalent, I am able to construct the liningA, having the bulb or swell for the chamber M, and with its smaller bore or barrel all of equal or nearly equal thickness throughout, and to have the whole so thin that the 4heat mayprope'rly permeate it, andA am able, also, to tightly ll the entire cavity inthe exterior bronze. By this I am able tojlorceA the lining A and bronze intermediate piece, B, intoI the exterior" shell as tightly as may be desired.- lVi't-hout this or some equivu alentprovision I believe it impractieable to fully realize allitlie advantages due to the use of the ehambered lining A M within a conipens'ating shell, H H H2, because the lining would 'require to be much thicker along the vbarrel than around the chamber, or else would not be properly supported by the said'shell.

Third. By the employment of the-elastic washers C D E F, arranged as represented tainga chamber, A, and relatively, also, to the intermediate piece,B, and'nut orstop G, I ani able to hold thepieeeBirlly against the 'forward surface of the swell, and to allow it to expand and contract longitudinally with heat to a different extent from the lining A.

Having now fully described my invention, 'what' I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by these Letters Patent, isl l. The chamber M or anequivalent enlargement at the breech of a slightly-expansible lining, A, in combination withthe means of compensating for unequal heating and resisting great strain, substantially as represented by B, H, H', and H2, for the purpose above- "set forth. p

2. In guns with a lining, A, having aswell vand chamber at its breech, the employment of the piece B, of a material more expansible by heat than A, between the lining A and the 'exterior shell, H, or its equivalent, lfor the purposeherein set forth.

Allowing independent longitudinal cx'- pansion of the piece B by means ofthe washers G l), 85e., made elastic, substantially as A described. relatively to the lining A, with its swell con- NORMAN VIARD Witnesses:

THos. D. STnTso'N, GEORGE F. S'rnrsorr.y 

